Simple shooting gallery toy.

[JonathanAnon]

Hi guys,

I want to build a little shooting game for my nephew. The idea being that he shoots a light gun at a target and when he hits it, it triggers a little water pump which will shoot up a stream of water.

I've built a simple resistor ladder with a photoresistor and a trim pot (for fine tuning), which feeds the base of a transistor. If you shine light from a torch on the photoresistor, the base of the transistor hits 0.6v and the transistor turns on. So that bit is perfect.

BUT, my problem is I didnt fully think through the light gun part of it. I thought that I could get one of those Nintendo light guns and shine light from it on to the photoresistor. After further investigation, I realised that the light guns are actually just photodiode receivers, that receive light from the screen.

I want a gun with a clicking trigger, that shines light from the barrel on to a small surface area. Does such a thing exist?

thanks,
j

[stj]

Re: Simple shooting gallery toy.

acuracy of that will be a joke,

i would strip a laser-pointer keyring and build it into the gun body,
then use photo-diodes with red filters to detect the laser.

using a laser sorts acuracy, using red with a filter reduces problems with sunlight etc.

[JonathanAnon]

Re: Simple shooting gallery toy.

I was thinking of getting one of those laser pointers and trying to find a way of triggering it whenever the trigger of the gun is pulled. There surely must be a toy gun with a laser that comes out when you click a trigger, instead of me having to rig one together myself?

[stj]

Re: Simple shooting gallery toy.

lasers + kids = legal problems.
(if your a toy company)